Van Gogh arrived in Paris from Antwerp in early spring, 1886. He and his brother Theo rented a flat halfway up Montmartre hill and lived there together. The windmills in this painting were symbols of a dance hall, Le Moulin de la Galette, nearby. Reminded of the Netherlands, his home, van Gogh painted those Montmartre windmills from various angles. While this painting of the underside of the city has a melancholy air, the use of bright colors in it cannot be seen in van Gogh’s paintings from his time in the Netherlands.